Less than two weeks after BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi ridiculed Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit as a merely ‘ribbon-cutting’ CM, it was Congress’s turn to hit back.
Three senior ministers in Dikshit’s cabinet — Haroon Yusuf, Arvinder Singh and Raj Kumar Chauhan —
on Saturday launched a scathing attack on Modi, stating that power rates in Delhi are much lower in the Capital than in Ahmedabad.

The ministers said the BJP is merely making false assurances of bringing in a stronger Lokayukta as the party has failed to do so in Gujarat, where Modi is the chief minister.

“The Delhi BJP is making tall claims of bringing in a stronger Lokayukta if they come to power, while its national leadership is not even willing to introduce a Delhi-like Lokayukta system in Gujarat. A number of Gujarat ministers, MLAs and councillors have been indicted by the Lokayukta but even after the court’s intervention, nothing has been done,” said urban development minister Arvinder Singh.

Power minister Haroon Yusuf alleged that Modi had been stating that power rates in Gujarat were Rs. 1.50 but he did not mention that the rate was applicable only for 30 units. Once you cross that, the bill goes up substantially.

“Modi is just trying to fool the people. In Delhi, if you consume power till 200 units, you pay only Rs. 2.70 per unit and at least 61% of the population here falls in this category,” he added.

The Delhi BJP has promised to reduce power tariff by at least 30% if voted to power, which the ministers said was possible only after power outages. “We provide uninterrupted power supply and we have no say in fixing the power rates as it is done by the power regulator,” Yusuf said.

Refuting the charges made by the Delhi BJP president that 50% of Delhiites do not have access to water supply, the ministers provided Census data which showed that 95% households have access to water.

The Delhi BJP on Friday had met the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung asking him to set up an accountability commission. “Vijay Goel said his party was ready to appoint an accountability commission for municipal corporations. Why did they go to the L-G, when they can simply do it themselves,” asked Singh.